"for I am with you." Judges 6:12

30 Days of Girl Crush: Sarah

Hebrews 11:11 (The Message) By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.

Sarai becomes Sarah when God makes a covenant with Abraham and calls him the father of many nations. How can we not be completely in love with a woman who God renames “princess.” This is like, every girls dream….to be a “princess” to their daddy. And to top it all off, when Abraham shows up in Egypt during a famine with his 65 year old bride Sarah…the Pharaoh wants to take her to be his wife (along with a hundred or other so wives). So here we are admiring a woman that God has renamed princess and she is beautiful to boot. Yes, you do detect a bit of resentment in my redundency here. I will admit, I do have a crush on this woman.

The first thing we learn about Sarah is that she’s barren. In today’s world, even the most beautiful of woman would trade a few zits and an uneven nose for a sweet little baby to hold to her breast, but back then it was everything to a woman. Everything.

But Sarah had faith. I wonder though, if Sarah had more faith in the idea of eventually having a child, or faith that when she did have the baby at 90, that everything would be alright? The Bible does say she got a real kick out of hearing she was pregnant. In fact, God wasn’t all too pleased she was laughing so cynically about the plan. But can we blame her for being just a little bit sarcastic? Whatever God’s frustration with her then, she’s certainly counted as having genuine faith for years to come, as we see in the New Testament passage above in Hebrews.

So what are you waiting for in your life? Maybe it’s a baby like Sarah. Maybe all the beauty in the world won’t remedy the ache in your heart for something that’s missing. Or maybe that ache is a detour in your life that is totally unexpected and unwelcome. I had a detour like that once, it was called cancer. That ache, I would imagine, is how Sarah felt. I don’t know if God’s going to answer your prayers like he did Sarah’s, or if he’ll reveal himself in other ways to you. But wait with expectation, and wait with faith. And don’t feel bad if sometimes you have cynical little chuckle now and again. Sarah did, and she did just fine.